Knights that deal good damage cause BMs difficulties as well because they afflict faster, deal more damage, and have a glorified pidgeon. That said the matchup still favors BMs at the upper end, but it's a real headache sometimes.

Prep legs.Pommel/Neck loop into impale/impaleslash.Legslash doublebreak legs/strike knees before you finish prepping torso (Possibly before you finish prepping legs, if you prep with compass as I suspect).ImpaleBladetwist x 3/4Win

Torso breaks are handy, but at the moment we don't really need them - not against most targets, anyway. I'd guess high mana targets with robes maybe, but even there I'd probably prefer to quadbreak instead and get six bladetwists off.

I was told that switching to mana priority and
shielding on breaks with rebounding up makes a blademaster's life a
living nightmare when trying to kill you. This actually the case?

If you can shield on a break, they did something wrong. Either they failed to prone you on a legbreak or they miscounted one of your arms and didn't break both.So yes, it would probably screw with them if it ever happened, but it doesn't.

Unless you already have a significant amount of max mana, robes of magi can be quite important if you want to survive a banded blademaster's setup. (Unless you want to never be in the room with them without max mana) Highleap/prone on the RoF with arm breaks or impslash. Sticking hamstring persistently. Additional disrupt and salve affs with breaks. Just ugh at facing decent people in that class. brb going magi